Napoleon in Afghanistan

Russia became an obsession for Napoleon. He spent 10 years hunting down the Tsar across the vast steppe but was never able to kill him. Meanwhile, the English were being a real nusance. They were blockading the whole continent and were conducting gurilla operations in Spain. Napoleon decided it was finally time to give up on the wiley Tsar for a while and strike the insolent English where it hurt. And so,

Napoleon detached a few hundred thousand from his Russian campaign and re-branded them the Army of India…

I found this story more interesting for how it addresses the series’ continuity than the plot itself. The plot itself doesn’t take very many risks, which would usually be a weakness; but in this case, it helps to draw the listener’s attention to the protagonist’s personal conflicts. It was a little strange to hear an utterance of “shit” in the episode considering how relatively clean the show usually is, but it didn’t feel out of place considering the situation, so kudos for tasteful usage.

I was happy to hear the robotic arm and spine finally be commented upon, after being ignored in the Gliese member show, although the tie-back to the earliest episodes leave me a little confused now. We know this character is from Hong Kong now, he’s not just a generic self-insert, so how does he pass for all these various races? If he’s a bit more mixed-race than full-blooded Chinese then I can see him passing for a local in most Twilight Histories episodes, but what about Cato’s War? The slaves are presumably black or at least dark enough not to be mistaken for the white Confederates, so how does this same character pass for an Irishman in City of Pyramids? Did Twilight Histories just roast him in a tanning booth before that particular trip? (Actually, that would be kind of hilarious, now that I think about it.)

The inclusion of Deep City in the narrative makes the timeline a little muddy, for me. Is Roma Islamica also part of the timeline, since it was also done in the current style? And what about episodes that have since been removed from the site entirely, like the old Minoan episode?

Based on what’s said in the prequel, our protagonist is getting pretty close to using up his time travel credits; at least 14 out of 20 now, by my count. It might be interesting if, instead of purchasing more credits, he took up the offer to become an agent for Twilight Histories. Since the agents have to set things up for clients and explore worlds in general, having our protagonist become one himself could be a good way to explore just how different these worlds really are.

I’m looking forward to seeing what you have planned for our next destination, and especially interested to see where you’re going with the prequel.

Really love these podcasts. I’m going to listen to a couple more and then become a member.
I wanted to know if it’s historically correct. More specifically I wanted to know if the French marshalls were actually killed and decapitated during their march to India.
Love your podcast.
Ps: I’m not English so if I made any mistakes please excuse me.

Hey Andrea. This story is an alternate history so none of the events actually happened. The departure from our own history happens in 1812 when Napoleon manages to change tactics and slowly pick away at Russia, rather than march disastrously on Moscow as he did in our timeline. In ‘Napoleon in Afghanistan’ we see a world where the French empire survives and expands to encompass the greater part of the world.